


With All His Heart

by ProdigyBlood



Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-23 00:04:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13775448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProdigyBlood/pseuds/ProdigyBlood
Summary: Skulduggery has loved Valkyrie for longer than was appropriate but if there’s one thing a living skeleton is, it’s patient.





	With All His Heart

**Author's Note:**

> I’m not sure I like this one, but it’s sitting on my computer so I might as well share it with you guys :)

The first time Skulduggery noticed her, _really_ noticed her, was when she saved him from the Faceless ones. She travelled to another dimension for him. It was hard not to notice her after that. But she was still a child, only fifteen and, asides from the obvious, she was far, _far_ too young and so he ignored the feelings stirring within. He pushed them aside and locked them away in a place deep down where he hoped they wouldn’t be able to resurface. 

But then, of course, she started dating Fletcher Renn and surface they did. He didn’t like it, not one bit but, eventually, he figured it would be good for her. Let her make her own mistakes and learn from them. Besides, as much as he loathed to admit it, Fletcher was a better fit for her. His hair may be ridiculous but at least they were close in age and at least Fletcher was alive. Valkyrie deserved someone who was alive. She deserved someone who was flesh and bones rather than just… bones. 

They told each other a lot, but there were some things they didn’t share. For example, Valkyrie didn’t tell him when she lost her virginity to Fletcher but Skulduggery could tell. There was something different about her, she was glowing. Skulduggery felt the rage swirling within him. 

He ignored it. 

Fletcher didn’t last. Skulduggery hadn’t expected he would. But the vampire? _Caelan?_ Skulduggery definitely did not approve. Still, he didn’t say anything. Well, much of anything. He couldn’t risk it, didn’t _want_ to risk it. Saying one thing could lead to saying more things and more things were certainly inadvisable. 

 

At the Requiem Ball, he didn’t dance with her. He _wanted_ to. My God, did he want to. She looked beautiful, far too beautiful than was appropriate for a girl her age. 

He danced with China instead. 

“My, you can’t keep your eyes off of her,” China said quietly in the place where his ear should be. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Skulduggery replied gruffly. 

“Valkyrie. She does look rather beautiful tonight, doesn’t she?”

“She’s a child.”

“Valkyrie Cain is many things, but a child she is not. You, yourself, have certainly never disrespected her enough to see her merely as a child. What is it that’s _really_ holding you back?”

Skulduggery spun China away from him and, when he brought her back and dipped her low, he whispered softly in her ear. “Enough. Never mention this again.”

 

When he was Lord Vile she chased him, never giving up hope. 

When she was Darquesse he chased her, his hope dwindling, fear winning over that she would be lost forever.

She had been stronger in that respect. She had never thought him lost, not even when a dimension separated them. Darquesse had made him doubt and he hated himself for it but none of that mattered because Valkryie, _his_ Valkryie was back. 

 

When the Accelerator demanded a sacrifice he was ready to do it, really would have, except… except she had to go and say those three little words. He knew how she meant them and suddenly his resolve crumbled. He didn’t know if it could work, though, and he didn’t dare raise her hopes. Instead, he activated his façade and kissed her cheek. A ‘just-in-case’ goodbye. It was such an innocent action but it made him feel, _really_ feel. And hope. Real hope in the first time that felt like forever. He’d almost forgotten what it felt like. He imagined it felt a lot like her warm blush under his fake lips. 

His plan worked and he teased her afterwards but… he didn’t say it back. 

 

She had to get away. She needed to escape everything. He understood it even if he didn’t like it. He didn’t protest her decision. He would never insult her like that. He allowed her her space. He just hoped she wouldn’t want too much of it. 

He didn’t hear from her for a whole month. It was the longest month of his life. When she finally got in touch, it was just a text. A text that gave an address. He wasn’t delusional enough to think it was an invitation but he made his way there regardless, with Fletcher in tow. He couldn’t risk her needing him and him not being able to reach her quickly enough.

“Are you going to knock?” Fletcher asked as he watched Skulduggery watching the closed front door. 

Skulduggery didn’t answer for a long minute. “No,” he said finally and they teleported back home. 

 

The phone calls started one long, _long_ year into their separation. Once a week, religiously, she would phone him. It was always at late hours for her and he knew she wasn’t sleeping well. Probably having nightmares. He didn’t press. She’d open up in her own time. He’d waited this long, he could keep waiting. 

Each time their phone calls ended he would ask her when she was coming back. Each time, before hanging up, she would say one single word that both gave and destroyed his hope every time she said it. 

_Soon._

 

“Skulduggery?” she asked during one of their phone calls four years into her leaving him. 

“Yes, Valkyrie?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“You just did,” he pointed out. 

“You goon,” she said. “Something else?”

“Something other than that one?”

“Yes, idiot! Um…” She fell silent and he knew she was suddenly doubting herself, knew that she was suddenly uncertain as to whether she dared ask. He waited patiently, his bones burning with curiosity. She wasn’t about to ask him to fetch her but a part of him couldn’t help but wish it were so. “Um… Do you remember that day at the Accelerator?” Feeling crushed, he responded.

How could he forget?

“Why didn’t… Why didn’t you – ” She cut off and didn’t continue. He didn’t question her. He knew what she was asking. He asked himself the same question every. Single. Day. 

_Why didn’t you say it back?_

 

She returned but she was different. She was broken. Skulduggery remained patient. She’d come back to him, eventually. She had too. 

Not quickly enough.

Eventually, he gave her a push. He worried it was a push too far but he’d had to try. He needed his partner back. He needed his friend. He needed _her._

And then he was corrupted. It was an odd feeling. On the one hand, he knew he loved Valkyrie, knew that he would regret it when the corruption wore off but he really, _really_ wanted to kill her. It was quite a bizarre feeling. 

He was going to do it, he decided quite firmly. He would kill her and then he would be free of this torture he’d had to endure for the last ten years. 

Freedom. It would be bliss. 

“I love you,” she said, accepting her fate, accepting that she was going to die by his hands. And suddenly, just like that, she had freed him. 

He was free. 

“I love you, too.” 

He meant it with all his heart. 

…Figuratively speaking, of course. Because he was a skeleton and he didn’t have a heart. 

He had waited far too long to say it but it was okay because she had waited patiently with him.


End file.
